When Darkness Surrounds you
by VampireFrootloopsRule
Summary: my take on Tori.Stone's challenge THE QUOTE THAT STARTED IT ALL. check it out, it's just a little bonding but you might like it! Hiatus! If you want to adopt, please contact me.
1. Nightmares

**When the darkness surrounds you, know that I will always try to start a fire. It may burn down the forest, it may consume me. But if it can save you from that darkness, I would burn it all.**

_Danny was thrown across the pavement into a pile of rocks away from the Nasty Burger and his doomed family._

"_You're pathetic," Dan's silky voice taunted into Danny's ears, "why do you fight? You know this future will happen eventually. It's only a matter of time…"_

_Just behind Dan's form, Danny could see the scared and gagged faces of everyone he'd ever loved and Mr. Lancer. They all looked to him with pleading in their eyes, scared for their lives and knowing Danny was the only one who could possibly save them._

"_No, I promised my family," Danny struggled to stand, holding his bruised ribs and rising on shaky legs._

"_Oh? You promised?" Dan started to walk toward his younger self, trying to run out the clock on his "families" lives._

"_Yes, I _PROMISED_!" on his last word, Danny unleashed his newly discovered power, his Ghostly Wail, on his future self and everything in front of him. His power drained, the ghost boy reverted to his human form and fell to his knees._

_But the added pressure from the sonic waves was too much for the Nasty Sauce containers. The meter cracked as the little needle was pushed to its limit._

"_No!" Danny scrambled to his feet and ran to his family, but he didn't move. It was like some invisible force was making it so that he could only run in place._

_Smoke billowed around the giant containers, but was swept to the side so Danny always had a clear view of his doomed "family"_

"_I'm inevitable…" the voice whispered into Danny's ears again, just as the explosion took away the lives of everyone that made him, _him.

_Clockwork hadn't come this time. They were all dead because he couldn't save them. And there was nothing Danny could do about it._

"No!"Danny screamed as he shot up in his bed, shaking and sweaty from the nightmare. Tears rolled down his cheeks as the thought of his family dying was brought back into painful focus.

"They're safe, they're safe," he whispered to himself. Ever since that day when he defeated Dan, he had been getting this recurring nightmare at least once a week. Sam and Tucker always wanted to talk about his nightmares, but knowing they would never truly understand since they hadn't been there, he decided to not tell them. Being that Clockwork had reset time, nothing had actually happened.

Except that for Danny, it had. He would forever be haunted by the sight of blood red eyes and his family exploding right before him.

"Danny? Are you alright?" Maddie knocked on the door, having heard her son's screams.

The halfa flinched at the sudden noise, not realizing that when he woke up, he had screamed for the first time since the nightmares started. "I'm…fine."

But Maddie could hear the quaver in her son's voice, and worried for his safety; she opened the door to check on her baby. Seeing Danny on the bed, arms wrapped securely around him and shaking, she knew she had to do something.

"Danny, what's wrong?" she moved towards the bed and sat on the edge, "you can talk to me, I-"

She was cut off abruptly by Danny's arms being flung around her in a tight hug. Shocked, it took her a moment, but she eventually returned the gesture, knowing her son needed comfort only a mother could give.

"Mom, you know I love you right? I mean, I know I haven't exactly shown it to you lately, but I do. You, dad, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker, you are all I have. I wouldn't be able to _live_ without you."

Maddie didn't understand where this little speech was coming from, but she did understand what her son needed.

"Of course I know that. You're all I have too. Look at me Danny," she waited for her baby to raise his red eyes to hers before she continued, "I don't know why you are feeling this way, but **when the darkness surrounds you, know that I will always try to start a fire. It may burn down the forest, it may consume me. But, if it can save you from that darkness, I would burn it all."**

Danny smiled weakly and hugged his mother tighter; letting the words he'd needed to hear soak into his mind. Thinking for a moment, he knew what he had to do, it was the perfect moment. Letting resolve settle in his heart, Danny pulled away so he could look his mother in the eye.

"Mom…there's something I need to tell you…"

**A/N: so yeah, I'm going to leave it there. This is my response to 's challenge: THE QUOTE THAT STARTED IT ALL. I know I should be working on my other stories, and I am, I just hit a bit of a snag in writers block. Clockwork is on muse vacation for some reason and I think he took my flash-drive with him so I wrote this to try and bring him back. And it worked! He even has my flash-drive! Where were you Clocky?**

**CW: forgive me, Frootloop, bur I had pressing business in another…**

**Me: does it look like I care? Look at all these poor readers out there waiting for an update and all they get is this one-shot!**

**CW: (bows head in shame)**

**Me: humph, that's what I thought. Anyway, I think the updates may be a little late, probably won't be till next week. I have to read a book, make a poster, and write a Major Works Data Sheet for English due next Friday and a Current Event due THIS Friday that is barely started. Yeah, English 3 AP stinks like Dash's dirty underwear.**

**And on top of that, everyone is depressed about 9/11. I feel like I should write something for it, but I don't know what. And since I don't know, I am here by dedicating this story to those who were lost on 9/11. RIP**


	2. reluctance

**When the darkness surrounds you, know that I will always try to start a fire. It may burn down the forest, it may consume me. But if it can save you from that darkness, I would burn it all.**

Chapter 2

"_Mom…there's something I need to tell you…"_

Maddie frowned at the suddenly serious tone of voice her son had used. Just a moment ago, he had sounded like a scared little kid, but now his voice rang with determination and apprehension somehow laced together.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" she pulled back further so that the two were facing each other completely.

Danny fidgeted, almost losing his nerve, but at the last second he blurted it out, "do you remember the portal accident I had a while back?"

Maddie nodded, and Danny sighed. He wished he had started with something that could have given him room to back down, but it was too late now.

"Well, what if I told you that that accident did more than just give me an electrical shock?"

Maddie looked thoughtful, if still confused as to what this had to do with anything, "well, I suppose it is possible. You could have gotten burned, is that what you mean? Do you have a scar or something?"

"Something…" the halfa turned his head away, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he thought of a way to say what he had been trying to convey for nearly a year now. "When I went into the portal, I accidentally pushed the button and turned it on, I told you that right?" receiving a confirming nod, he continued carefully, "well, I was electrocuted and my DNA got infused with ectoplasm. Don't worry I'm alright!" he quickly held up his hands, seeing that his mother was beginning to get the "oh, my poor baby" look.

"Ok, now don't freak out, alright?" Danny held up his hands and stood up, carefully watching Maddie follow him with concerned and wary eyes.

_This was it_, he thought. After a year of hiding, he would finally be free of this secret. Oh how many times had he wished and tried to tell his parents about Phantom, only to be stopped by something or someone interrupting him. But now that the moment was finally here, did he really want to?

He hesitated in his final moments before he transformed and changed everything forever. In all the alternate dimensions where Danny had revealed himself, his parents had always accepted him. But what happened afterwards? Would they still accept after they learned everything? He didn't want things to change between him and his parents; maybe he wouldn't do this after all.

He was just about to come up with a lie, something to throw his mom off his trail, but Danny was interrupted when a huge crash came from his left as the outside wall collapsed in.

"Hello ghost child."

**Ooo. Evil Cliffy! I won't even tell you who it is, I'm that evil! I know it's short, hopefully I'll update soon, but I don't know. I still have my other two stories up and running, but Twins is in a bit of a block. I'm working on it I promise!**

**Anyway, on to reviews!**

**Stormygirl335, Renzy Fantasia, Pheek, DxS4ever, and Book Phan44 are all thanked abunch! Especially Book Phan, Pheek, and Renzy Fantasia for asking me to continue.**


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